BIG-IP Terraform Resources

Terraform is an open source tool for provisioning and deployment of public and private cloud infrastructures. Terraform lets you to create, change and improve production infrastructure safely and predictably. Terraform use APIs abstraction through declarative configuration files that can be shared amongst team members, treated as code, edited, reviewed, and versioned. 

Many of our customers who have deployments in AWS, Azure and GCP are using terraform in DevOps and CICD initiatives. As automation in the network is pivotal for DevOps success and as F5 plays an important role in our customers network, we have  F5 provider plugin for terraform. Now, using Terraform, customers can deploy F5 BIG-IP in Public cloud using F5 BIG-IP YAML or JSON templates. The terraform F5 Provider repo is available for download at https://github.com/f5devcentral/terraform-provider-bigip  repository

Once the infrastructure is deployed, using the F5 BIG-IP provider for terraform we can automate several F5 BIG-IP operational tasks as well. Besides application deployment, operational tasks like removing the servers from the F5 BIG-IP pool so that, the server apps can be updated with new software or the server operating system can be upgraded - all while avoiding outages or downtime etc. can be automated and run with Terraform. If such operational tasks are done manually its very much time consuming and error prone. Also imagine if you need to do hundreds of such changes more frequently.

Let us look at a simple operational use case: Here, the F5 BIG-IP device is configured using Terraform. Configuration file shows deploying Virtual server for App1 application, App1_Pool and Application Servers 11.1.1.101 & 11.1.1.102.

Virtual Server, Pool and nodes configured on BIG-IP

provider "bigip" {

  address = "10.192.74.73"

  username = "admin"

  password = "admin"

}

resource "bigip_ltm_pool"  "App1_pool" {

        name = "/Common/App1_pool"

        load_balancing_mode = "round-robin"

        nodes = ["11.1.1.101:80","11.1.1.102:80"]

        monitors = ["/Common/App1_monitor"]

        allow_snat = true

       }

resource "bigip_ltm_virtual_server" "App1_http" {

            pool = "/Common/App1_pool"

        name = "/Common/App1_http_vs"

            destination = "100.1.1.100"

            port = 80

            source_address_translation = "automap"

            depends_on = ["bigip_ltm_pool.App1_pool"]

}

terraform-provider-bigip shitole$ terraform plan


+ bigip_ltm_pool.App1_pool

    allow_nat:           "true"

    allow_snat:          "true"

    load_balancing_mode: "round-robin"

    monitors.#:          "1"

    monitors.1751784255: "/Common/App1_monitor"

    name:                "/Common/App1_pool"

    nodes.#:             "2"

    nodes.2872054492:    "11.1.1.101:80"

    nodes.3112549682:    "11.1.1.102:80"

+ bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http

    client_profiles.#:          "<computed>"

    destination:                "100.1.1.100"

    ip_protocol:                "<computed>"

    mask:                       "255.255.255.255"

    name:                       "/Common/App1_http_vs"

    pool:                       "/Common/App1_pool"

    port:                       "80"

    profiles.#:                 "<computed>"

    server_profiles.#:          "<computed>"

    snatpool:                   "<computed>"

    source:                     "0.0.0.0/0"

    source_address_translation: "automap"


Plan: 10 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.

terraform-provider-bigip shitole$ terraform apply

bigip_ltm_pool.App1_pool: Creating...

  allow_nat:           "" => "true"

  allow_snat:          "" => "true"

  load_balancing_mode: "" => "round-robin"

  monitors.#:          "" => "1"

  monitors.1751784255: "" => "/Common/App1_monitor"

  name:                "" => "/Common/App1_pool"

  nodes.#:             "" => "2"

  nodes.2872054492:    "" => "11.1.1.101:80"

  nodes.3112549682:    "" => "11.1.1.102:80"


bigip_ltm_pool.App1_pool: Creation complete

bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http: Creating...

  client_profiles.#:          "" => "<computed>"

  destination:                "" => "100.1.1.100"

  ip_protocol:                "" => "<computed>"

  mask:                       "" => "255.255.255.255"

  name:                       "" => "/Common/App1_http_vs"

  pool:                       "" => "/Common/App1_pool"

  port:                       "" => "80"

  profiles.#:                 "" => "<computed>"

  server_profiles.#:          "" => "<computed>"

  snatpool:                   "" => "<computed>"

  source:                     "" => "0.0.0.0/0"

  source_address_translation: "" => "automap"

bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http: Creation complete

Apply complete! Resources: 10 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

The above terraform apply command creates Virtual server, Pool and adds 2 nodes to the Pool.

resource "bigip_ltm_pool"  "App1_pool" {

        name = "/Common/App1_pool"

        load_balancing_mode = "round-robin"

        nodes = ["11.1.1.102:80"]    node 11.1.1.101 is removed

        monitors = ["/Common/App1_monitor"]

        allow_snat = true

        depends_on = ["bigip_ltm_provision.provision-afm"]

}

terraform-provider-bigip shitole$ terraform plan


~ bigip_ltm_pool.App1_pool

    nodes.#:          "2" => "1"

    nodes.2872054492: "11.1.1.101:80" => ""

    nodes.3112549682: "11.1.1.102:80" => "11.1.1.102:80"


~ bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http

    pool: "App1_pool" => "/Common/App1_pool"



Plan: 0 to add, 2 to change, 0 to destroy.

terraform-provider-bigip shitole$ terraform apply


bigip_ltm_monitor.App1_monitor: Refreshing state... (ID: /Common/App1_monitor)

bigip_ltm_pool.App1_pool: Refreshing state... (ID: /Common/App1_pool)

bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http: Refreshing state... (ID: /Common/App1_http_vs)

bigip_ltm_pool.App1_pool: Modifying...

  nodes.#:          "2" => "1"

  nodes.2872054492: "11.1.1.101:80" => ""

  nodes.3112549682: "11.1.1.102:80" => "11.1.1.102:80"

bigip_ltm_pool.App1_pool: Modifications complete


bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http: Modifying...

  pool: "App1_pool" => "/Common/App1_pool"

bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http: Modifications complete


Apply complete! Resources: 0 added, 2 changed, 0 destroyed.

$ terraform destroy -target=bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http


Do you really want to destroy?

  Terraform will delete the following infrastructure:

      bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http

  There is no undo. Only 'yes' will be accepted to confirm


  Enter a value: yes


bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http: Refreshing state... (ID: /Common/App1_http_vs)

bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http: Destroying...

bigip_ltm_virtual_server.App1_http: Destruction complete


Destroy complete! Resources: 1 destroyed.